How do albatross fly such long distances?
All albatrosses have long, narrow wings and use the energy of the wind to help them fly. They are long distance gliding machines. They flap their wings infrequently, using the wind to propel them, often with much wheeling. Flight appears almost effortless. For dynamic soaring they will take advantage of the wind speed gradient in the 30-metre layer of air above the sea surface. They will often glide just above the sea surface along the flanks of waves. Adults have been recorded flying up to 550 miles per day at speeds of 50 mph, and in a single foraging flight they can cover an incredible 1800 to 9300 miles, a distance greater than the diameter of the earth. One Laysan albatross flew more than 24,843 miles in flights across the North Pacific to find food for its chick in just 90 days. Because albatrosses depend on the wind to fly and sailors depend on the wind to sail albatrosses became a good omen to sailors. The albatross features in a famous poem about what happened to a sailor when
